Almere, Flevoland Province, Netherlands, April 2003.

On a green football training ground in the north of the city sports park, a group of sixteen-year-old Dutch teenagers are forming a circle, playing a football game called robbing the circle, although it is training, but the faces of the teenagers have an unusually relaxed look, the scene is not the slightest bit of training should be nervous, more like play, even banter.

The game also has another name, walking monkeys.

This group of Dutch teenagers is walking the Chinese teenager who is responsible for grabbing the ball in the circle.

His black hair and yellow skin make him stand out in the all-Dutch team, and he looks like a headless fly running around the field, which further stimulates the fun of the Dutch teenagers.

The onlookers were also very excited, as if they were not watching a football drill, but a performance by the Royal Circus Amsterdam.

The ball skillfully passed back and forth at the feet of the Dutch teenagers in a circle, although the Chinese teenagers kept running, chasing the ball, but never grabbed, several lucky catch-ups, startled a burst of surprise around, but in the end they still passed by the ball.

At the beginning, every time he failed to steal the ball, there would be laughter, even sarcasm and ridicule around him, but gradually, this voice became quieter and quieter, and in the end, it was even more silent.

Any cruel game may be able to stimulate the audience's adrenaline with freshness at the beginning, but when it is repeated again and again, gradually, the audience will become numb, but will feel tragic instead.

A kind of tragedy in which the weak are slaughtered by the strong.

"Poor boy, why do you hold on?" Someone shook his head sympathetically and sighed.

"It's no wonder, he does it every time."

"It's been almost a year, why hasn't he given up yet?"

"If you want to change me, you will give up a long time ago."

"It's very fast, and the physical fitness is good, but the basic skills are terrible."

"I've watched football for so many years, this Chinese kid really has no future, let alone a professional league, I'm afraid that he can't even meet the requirements of amateurism, so he should give up quickly and find another way out as soon as possible."

"Who's to say it isn't? Mr. Rip had tried to dissuade him many times, but he would not live or die. ”

"What a stubborn boy."

"It's a pity, if he had come a few years earlier, with his speed and fitness, coupled with this mentality, he would have really hoped to play in the professional league, but now he ......"

"Ahem, what's the solution?"

…………

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Head coach John Repp finally blew the whistle for the end of training.

Everyone in the scene, including him, exhaled heavily.

It's finally over!

In their opinion, the short ten-minute game time of grabbing the circle is so long.

After the whistle blew, the Chinese teenager, who had never been able to grab the ball, was so tired that he fell to his knees on the training ground, rattling and panting.

Teammates walked past him, and occasionally a sympathetic hand or two reached out and tapped him on the head and shoulder.

But instead of feeling humiliated, the comfort from his teammates clenched his fists and pounded the grass hard, blaming himself incessantly.

His name is Yang Yang, 16 years old, from a small county town in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, his parents run a small shoe factory, the family conditions are okay, seeing that he likes football, let him study with a retired professional player in the city since he was a child, and he is also competitive, has always stood out among his peers.

Uncle Shen Ming runs a Chinese restaurant in Almere, the Netherlands, and when he returned to China to visit relatives, he happened to watch a school team game of Yang Yang, so he mentioned it in passing, suggesting that he go to the Netherlands for further study, which made Yang Yang's heart pound.

At first, his parents disagreed, after all, the gap between Chinese players and European players is so huge, Yang Yang has not even experienced formal professional training, how can he succeed?

But Yang Yang insisted again and again, coupled with the facilitation of his uncle Shen Ming, in the end, his parents could only reluctantly agree, and they regarded it as going abroad for training.

For one year, if Yang Yang can gain a firm foothold in the Netherlands, they will allow Yang Yang to continue playing, otherwise he will return to China, study hard, and completely give up his dream of becoming a professional player.

landed in the Netherlands with ambition, but what awaited Yang Yang was a succession of heavy blows.

He first tried out for a number of Amsterdam teams and was not accepted by the other party, so he had to persuade the third-tier amateur team Almere through his uncle's relationship through sponsorship, so that Yang Yang could train with the team's youth team for a year, but as a result, compared with his peers in the Dutch amateur team, he was still far inferior.

In the year of training with Almere, although he tried his best to improve himself and try to integrate into Almere's training, the poor basic skills were still exposed in the daily training, especially in this seemingly simple but demanding game of grabbing the circle, he could only enter the circle again and again to grab the ball due to frequent passing and receiving mistakes.

Scenes like today's are repeated almost every day.

If Yang Yang was not sober enough before, then the personal experience of the past year has made him thoroughly understand the huge gap between himself and Dutch players of the same age.

He was unwilling, but there was no way at all.

He has missed the best age to consolidate the fundamentals.

Seeing that the one-year period is approaching, Yang Yang's situation in the team is getting worse, even if he has tried his best, he has never been able to improve, which makes him feel very annoyed and self-blamed, and he can only keep hammering the grass to vent his inner depression.

…………

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"Yang."

After the players left, John Repp came to Yang Yang, looking at the sweaty, panting teenager, and felt helpless in his heart.

Everything that happened on the training ground, he naturally knew.

If a year ago, John Repp was somewhat disgusted with this relation, then through this year's performance, Yang Yang used his diligence and determination to completely change the Dutch celebrity, but this does not prevent John Repp from judging Yang Yang's future.

Regarding Yang Yang's experience, the middle-aged Dutch man who had just turned 51 years old was unbearable and regretful, but in the end, he still hardened his heart and did not call for a stop training in advance, but continued to watch coldly.

If it had been a few years earlier, with Yang Yang's persistence, he believed that there would have been a chance, but now...... He could only politely persuade him to retreat.

He believes that this is responsible for Yang Yang's future.

"Mr. Rip." Yang Yang got up from the ground and shouted respectfully.

He has learned a lot from the Dutch legend over the past year and has never dared to slack off.

"You know, there's still a month to go, and this training session is coming to an end, and we're going to have an internal review at that time." John Rip said lightly.

Yang Yang nodded, this is the youth training model that Almere borrowed from the Dutch giants Ajax.

The annual assessment will weed out some unqualified students and add some fresh blood to stimulate internal competition, while the outstanding students will be recommended by the club to go to Amsterdam in July to participate in Ajax's Talent Day selection, and have the opportunity to be selected into the Ajax Academy.

As a satellite club of the Dutch giants, Almere has three referral slots each year, and only the best students are eligible for this letter of recommendation.

If a year ago, Yang Yang, who had just arrived, was still looking forward to Ajax with confidence, then now, he has only one thought, and that is to stay at Almere.

But it's getting harder.

"You know, Yang." John Repp couldn't bear to look at Yang Yang, his eyes were full of helplessness, "We are the first team in the city of Almere to have a hope of entering the professional league in the past 30 years, the city government and all walks of life are very concerned about the development of our team, this year's assessment site will definitely attract a lot of guests and fans, so ......"

There were some things that John Rip couldn't bear to say to his face, but the meaning was clear.

Although he has only been in the Netherlands for a year, John Repp believes that Yang Yang's Dutch level is enough for him to understand the meaning of his words.

"Your grades in cultural classes are very good, and the teachers at the school have a very high evaluation of you, we all think that you should concentrate on working hard in this direction, if you want, I can convince Mr. President, even if you leave the team, you can still stay in the secondary school with which we cooperate, and you will definitely have the opportunity to enter the University of Amsterdam in the future."

The University of Amsterdam is the best university in the Netherlands and one of the most prestigious universities in Europe.

In John Repp's view, Yang Yang's chances of becoming a professional player are even more slim than being admitted to the University of Amsterdam, although the competition for the latter is also very fierce.

Yang Yang understands what John Repp means, this kind of persuasion has been repeated many times in the past period of time, and the head coach's rhetoric is becoming more and more straightforward, and he knows that John Repp's promise to him today is excellent.

The secondary school he attends now is a prestigious private school in Almere, and if it weren't for Almere's academy players, he wouldn't have been able to attend at all, and the team has never given similar compensation to other eliminated players before, which is an exception for him.

But Yang Yang still couldn't accept it.

"Thank you, Mr. Rip." Yang Yang just thought about it for a moment and then raised his head, looked directly at the head coach, and shook his head resolutely, "I understand your kindness, but I really don't want to give up like this, as long as it doesn't come to the last moment, I won't admit defeat." ”

"You're ...... again"

"I've decided, Mr. Rip." Yang Yang terminated the conversation without discussion.

John Rip has long been mentally prepared for this result, and he does not feel sorry for Yang Yang's stubbornness and persistence at all, but appreciates it very much, but the more he appreciates, the more regretful he feels.

If Yang Yang had appeared in front of him a few years earlier, I believe the result would be completely different from now.

At the very least, his fundamentals will be more solid than they are now, and with his speed and fitness, he can definitely establish himself in Almere, and hopefully even better.

It's just a pity that he has missed the optimal age.

Thinking of this, John Depp looked at Yang Yang's back as he turned to leave, and sighed long.

…………

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Almere is a satellite town of Amsterdam, and most of the people who live here work in Amsterdam, leaving early and returning late, and dinner is the best time for restaurant business.

Yang Yang didn't do it today as usual, he went to the restaurant to help after training, called his uncle and told him, and when he got home, he locked himself in his room.

He felt that he needed to be quiet.

Lying on his back on a single bed, the low ceiling is plastered with large posters of two of his favorite idols.

Brazilian superstar Ronaldo, who currently plays for Real Madrid, and retired Dutch legend Van Basten.

He has been like this countless times, lying in bed, watching his idols fall asleep, and even dreaming that he is competing with them.

But he had never been more hesitant than he was now.

He was self-aware and knew the gap between himself and his Dutch peers, but he was not willing to let himself fail and gave up his football dream in despair.

He thought of his parents back home, and they must have been disappointed when they heard the news.

Although his parents always advised him to give up playing football and return to China to study hard, they hoped that he would give up on his own initiative.

No parent wants their child to suffer such a setback, does it?

There is also the uncle's family, they must have been mentally prepared, but they must still be very disappointed.

Thinking about it, before he knew it, he seemed to be asleep.

In a daze, Yang Yang had a very strange dream.

He came to an unknown space that was pitch black, and he couldn't see his fingers.

Unsure if he was dreaming, he shouted desperately and ran desperately to escape from this terrifying place.

But he was hoarse and tired of running, but he seemed to be still in place.

At this moment, from a distant place, a sound that seemed to be there and there was still nothing.

Yang Yang!

He vaguely heard as if someone was shouting his name, and at first it was extremely faint, but gradually, he heard it clearly.

So, he immediately followed the sound and ran over.